If this painting and this one have similar palettes—all greens and autumn oranges—it’s because I love that combination. In this case and this one too, it’s because the subjects of the portraits love it.

To learn more about the making of this painting of a mandrill, visit this article on my blog. Below is the text from the book Crime Against Nature that goes with this image—the book can be read and purchased here.

Boys are sometimes just a little more colorful than girls…

Female mandrills live in hordes of several hundred individuals, and the normally solitary males interact with the female groups only during mating season. Though both sexes of this monkey species have colorful markings on their faces, the males’ coloring is brighter and only they sport nearly neon behinds.